Description

"I'll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed
earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two-hundred
and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They're too much
fun."

--Babe Ruth to Col. Jacob Ruppert, 1922

New York Yankees owner Colonel Jake Ruppert was concerned. The year
1922 had been a tumultuous one for his superstar slugger, whose
poor behavior had kept the Babe in the scandal rags, and out of the
line-up, far more than a man earning over three times as much as
his next biggest player's salary should be. After missing six weeks
at the beginning of the season due to Judge Landis' suspension for
barnstorming infractions, Ruth went just five days before being
stripped of his captain's stripes for throwing dirt on an umpire
and then directing a vulgar gesture at a heckler in the stands. In
mid-June, he was tossed twice on consecutive days. By August, Ruth
had been suspended by the League five times.

And while receiving just 110 games of service for his $52,000
annual commitment to the Babe, Ruppert received almost daily
briefings of the Babe's off-field behavior, the drinking, the
carousing, the many late nights. He was convinced that all of these
factors were connected, and that the time had come to rein in the
Bacchanalian Babe. After all, the club was moving to an palatial
new baseball grounds in the Bronx the next season. This sort of
behavior just wouldn't do. If Babe Ruth was really worth one
thousand dollars a week, he had better start acting like an
adult.

It was this revelation on the part of the frustrated Yankee
patriarch that spawned the incredible document we present here,
almost certainly the first "substance abuse" agreement ever
conceived in the course of American athletics. Six typed legal-size
pages spell out the terms that would hopefully curb Ruth's
self-destructive tendencies, and help earn the New York Yankees
their first World Championship. In essence, it is an opportunity
for Ruth to reclaim the sum of $9,017.10 he had been fined "for
infraction of the regulations" as stipulated in his historic
thousand dollar per week contract. The terms of this November 11,
1922 contract addendum are stated as follows:

"It is understood and agreed by and between the parties hereto
that the regulation above set forth, numbered '2' shall be
construed to mean among other things, that the player shall at all
times during the term of this contract and throughout the years
1922, 1923 and 1924, and the years 1925 and 1926 if this contract
is renewed for such years, refrain and abstain entirely from the
use of intoxicating liquors and that he shall not during the
training and playing season in each year stay up later than 1
o'clock A.M. on any day without the permission and consent of the
Club's manager, and it is understood and agreed that if at any time
during the period of this contract, whether in the playing season
or not, the player shall indulge in intoxicating liquors or be
guilty of any action or misbehavior which may render him unfit to
perform the services to be performed by him hereunder, the Club may
cancel and terminate this contract and retain as the property of
the Club, any sums of money withheld from the player's salary as
above provided."

Though the Colonel, a good family man, was none too happy about the
Babe's womanizing, he understood that any regulations levied in
that regard would be a lost cause. With Ruth's wife, a demure woman
uncomfortable with the New York City spotlight, maintaining the
family residence in Boston, the Babe was free to operate as a
swinging bachelor. And while every story we hear about Ruth would
lead us to believe he signed the terms as listed with fingers
crossed, a gentleman's agreement to exclude marital fidelity from
the terms was made as well. The sixth and final page bears the
consenting signatures of the two parties in unique and desirable
variations: "Jac. H. Ruppert, Prst." and "Geo. H. Ruth." The
notary's signature is here as well, with all three presenting at
9+/10 strength. Furthermore, where handwritten changes have been
made on the second, third and fifth pages, both Ruppert and Ruth
have initialed their consent, also in the boldest of black fountain
pen ink. Some minor separation at a few of the original storage
folds causes no concern, and all pages remain solid and complete.
The original file envelope, entitled "American League Baseball Club
of New York with George Herman Ruth Agreement," is here as
well.

The exploits of George Herman Ruth, both on and off the playing
field, have become a treasured chapter in American folklore. His
rags to riches rise from the orphanage to the height of
international fame, his tremendous appetites for wine, women and
song, his dominance of our National Pastime, all of it makes him
the most beloved and recognized sports figure of the twentieth
century. Perhaps no other piece on earth so succinctly captures
"the essence of the Babe," and Heritage is immensely pleased to
offer this historic document to the collecting community. LOA
from PSA/DNA. LOA from James Spence Authentication.